On Monday March 5th, 2018 ANATOLIKI SA-Development Agency of Eastern Thessaloniki's Local Authorities and the Regional Development Fund of Central Macedonia with the cooperation of the Laboratory of Heat Transfer and Environmental Engineering (LHTEE) of the Mechanical Engineering Department, Aristotle University Thessaloniki and the Federation of Industries of Northern Greece co-organized the Conference titled “Circular Economy for SMEs”. BIOREGIO project’s dissemination event was hosted by the Conference.
The Conference was organized in the frame of CESME project that is also financed by Interreg Europe programme. The synergy between the projects in the context of the conference resulted in valuable results concerning the multiple benefits in the area of an agricultural field from the transition to a circular economy. Such benefits can be achieved, once extensive collaborations between actors with various objectives are formed.
Prof N. Moussiopoulos presents BIOREGIO project during the morning session of the in the CESME conference chaired by Dr. S. Kontogianni.
Given that the “turnover of bioeconomy in Greece reached 27,14 billion euros in 2014” according to prof N. Moussiopoulos (head of Laboratory of Heat Transfer and Environmental Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), transition to Circular Economy offers the path towards minimization of greenhouse gas emission, reduction of dependence on traditional fertilizers and animal feeds, limiting impacts on water and air, improvement of soil quality and of course waste minimization.
Circular economy involves the exploitation of agricultural residues not necessarily in the production process, from which they have emerged, but the multidimensional circulation of resources and the exploitation of new technologies in order to create new cascading value chains. Apart from stakeholder collaboration, requirements involve investment, support of research activities, integration of innovations and the development of new circular paths in order to ultimately lead into an increase of Gross Domestic Product and creation of jobs.
A dedicated workshop on bioeconomy – Circular Economy opportunities was held during the afternoon where members of the BIOREGIO Local Support Group presented their best cases (GOOD PRACTICES) as identified during the project so far.
Bioeconomy opportunities were discussed during the afternoon workshop chaired by Dr. A. Malamakis in the frame of CESME conference.
The conference was attended by about 200 participants coming from the regional and local administration, various industrial and enterprise sectors, Hellenic Ministry of Environment and Energy as well as regional waste management authorities.
Conference room participants during BIOREGIO project presentation by Prof. N. Moussiopoulos, head of Laboratory of Heat Transfer and Environmental Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, AUT
